The Hurry Up is your nightcap of Ohio State recruiting news, catching you up on the day’s events with an ear on the ground for what’s next.
WERNER PLANS OHIO STATE VISIT
Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class has a few potential linebackers in it, but they've not yet made a splash with anyone that is a true linebacker.
In two weeks, they'll get a visit from one of the Midwest's best, Indianapolis Cathedral's Pete Werner. Werner is the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder, the country's 26th-ranked linebacker and Indiana's second-ranked 2017 prospect.
"I'm visiting Ohio State on the 25th," Werner told Eleven Warriors. "(Luke Fickell) and I talk every week."
For Werner, the visit to Columbus will be his first. It's a key trip for a player that has already started to narrow his list.
"I have cut my list," he said. "I have a few schools left to make my decision. I just need a better feel for the school and the team and coaches. Academics, the people, and the football program is very important."
Werner visited Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin last month and this weekend will head to Michigan and Notre Dame before making his visit to Columbus next weekend. He has 27 offers and a slew of them happened in the last two months. He's gone from relative obscurity to a national name and that transition has been a challenging one occasionally.
"It's very overwhelming," Werner added of the recruiting process. "I did not expect this. Things were very quiet."
AUBREY SOLOMON UPDATE
One of the Buckeyes' remaining defensive tackle targets is Leesburg, Georgia's Aubrey Solomon, the fifth-ranked defensive tackle in America. From Lee County High School, the alma mater of current Buckeye quarterback Stephen Collier, Ohio State has an "in" with Solomon, but they've not yet been able to get him on campus.
Florida and Auburn are the two most recent places he's visited, but–according to a person we spoke with last week–it's the Gators that are currently making the biggest impression on the 6-foot-3, 305-pounder.
"He and his mom are really liking Florida," a source shared. "He's got a bit stressed about the entire process right now. He's not liking all the attention."
The key for Ohio State, who at one point was at the top of his Top 10 list, is to get Solomon up to Columbus for a visit.
"He likes Ohio State," the source said. "He wants to get up there, but it's just been a bit much for him lately."
DAYLN WADE-PERRY HAS BUCKEYES IN ‘GREAT’ POSITION
Another Ohio State defensive tackle target and one of the longer-standing offers in the 2017 class at the position is New Jersey's Dalyn Wade-Perry. A three-star prospect from Pope John XXIII, the alma mater of Buckeye wide receiver Noah Brown, Wade-Perry has offers from Notre Dame, Michigan State, Stanford, Alabama, Florida State and almost 20 others.
He told Rivals.com that Ohio State is one of the teams that are in a "great" position.
"Ohio State, Penn State, I've just been all over the place," Wade-Perry told Rivals. "There's a lot of schools coming at me."
When you're talking about the best of the best, there are not as many differences as there are similarities. It comes down to one or two smaller things that separate the programs from one another.
"They all try to sell the same things, a lot of these schools are good academically for a general student," Wade-Perry said. "As a student-athlete, I'm gonna try to find what fits best."
One of the sticking points is a defensive line coach that can serve as a mentor, someone that can help take him from a college prospect to becoming a pro prospect.
"There are few coaches like that, like Coach Spence at Penn State, Coach Johnson at Ohio State, Coach Gilmore at Notre Dame. I'm just talking to a lot of coaches, they of course all try to sell themselves to help me get to the next level."
Ohio State has two committed defensive tackles so there's no rush to find another and Wade-Perry has not yet been on campus. He told Rivals he'll make a college decision whenever he knows he's in the right place.
"I want to make a decision as soon as I can, as soon as I know exactly where I want to go."
247SPORTS UNVEILS DECOMMITMENT TRACKER
We've talked a number of times about how much recruiting has changed today, highlighted of course by the widespread attention it receives from folks like yours truly.
When you consider all things, it's actually a bit surprising it's taken as long as it has for someone in the recruiting industry to unleash an actual webpage dedicated to the fine art of the decommitment.
Worry no more, friends. It has arrived. Tuesday, 247Sports released the Decommitment Tracker. The list, organized from the most recent to the earliest flips, can be separated into classes and allows you wild and crazy recruitniks to take an in-depth look at the disaster that recruiting can be.
Did you know that in 2016 Miami signed 19 players but had 23(!) decommitments?
Now you do. Enjoy taking a look back at what might've been.
